Thoughts, musings, and observations about race in America, particularly the mixing of race--in all the ways you can imagine: people of various races interacting, people of various races not wanting to mix, issues of purity, hybridity, multiplicity, heterogeneity, and any other way you can describe the blending, melding, melting, tossing, turning, churning of race relations in the United States.

Friday, May 2, 2008

An open letter to Senator Hillary Clinton

Dear Senator Clinton,

First of all, thank you for your years of public service. I mean, I know people have squabbled about whether or not the years you spent as First Lady *count* as public service, but being in the limelight in the way that you were during those eight years, not to mention the fishbowl of the Arkansas governor's mansion, and the way I'm sure you aided your husband's political career and public (and international) policy decisions, well, I believe that does count for something.

And certainly your years in the Senate have distinguished you in your unwavering service to the state of New York, your *adopted* state if you will.

But Senator Clinton, aren't you tired? You are heading into the weekend before the Tuesday, May 6 Indiana and North Carolina state primaries. You have been jetting back and forth between these two states and two time zones. You have been shaking hands, meeting the masses, and talking to the press. You must be exhausted...you must really need a vacation.

So may I kindly suggest that you step down? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? I've heard the talking heads. I know they say that you are trying to prove that you are a fighter--that you are tenacious--that you can hang on despite numbers, despite pundits, despite all odds...and you HAVE hung on--I'm sure you are planning to go all the way to the Denver Democratic convention.

Don't. Please. Don't

I know people say it's bad for the party and others say it's galvanized the party. But you know what? It's bad for YOU. It's bad for you and your husband's legacy. Look at what happened to President Clinton after South Carolina? It was EMBARRASSING. It was CRINGE WORTHY and ANGER PRODUCING. And you, what are you doing? That 3am ad...really?! It was so blatant. And your surrogates...don't get me started on Gloria Steinem and Geraldine Ferraro. Do you know one of the things that has happened since this all began is a serious conversation among women and a divide that I've been seeing between white women feminists and women of color, particularly African American women, who no longer claim "feminist" as a descriptor because they are so disillusioned with the subtle (and not so subtle) racism coming out of the mouths of some white feminist women (please see this post by a friend and fellow blogger Tami--she is quite eloquent on this subject).

Look, I know you feel like this was your time and along comes this younger upstart, this charismatic guy who has the gall to be the Illinois senator of all places (your childhood home state!). But have you read his biography? I mean, like you, he's *adopted* Illinois as his home state--and he did so at an early age, right out of college. He is a good man. You have MUCH in common in the way of policy issues and philosophical values. Do you see the way he's galvanized people? I know words like "change" and "hope" sound like buzzwords, but people really are fired up--they really are turning out in record numbers, to vote, to support him, to try to make a difference because we ALL want to make a difference this election (I guess by all I should say that I'm mainly talking to fellow travelers-Democrats, although I think there are plenty of Independents and Republicans who also don't want to see business as usual).

Barack Obama is smart, caring, compassionate, and dare I say articulate (I'll leave the clean part for Senator Biden). He is NOT crazy--and there are a lot of crazy folks out there, ones in the Republican party who want to actually run for higher office like this guy, Tony Zirkle--the guy actually BELIEVES that if only Europe had stricter anti-pornography/prostitution laws then WWII would have been averted because Hitler used anti-pornography/prostitution as a platform for the Final Solution against Jewish people since 97% of international pornography/prostitution came from Jewish cartels (yes, the man HAS THIS ON HIS CAMPAIGN WEBSITE -- you can find a link in the Poplicks comment section--click here).

You have run long and hard Senator Clinton. You owe it to yourself, to your family, and dare I say to the rest of us, to exit now, to say good-bye gracefully. You can still make an impact on the world. Look at Al Gore. Who would have thought he'd bounce back and win an Oscar and a Nobel Prize?!! And President Jimmy Carter--a man vilified in his time is now the senior voice of reason and wisdom in the Democratic party and has done so much good in this world. Your public service isn't over Senator Clinton...please, Please, PLEASE, leave the race and help campaign for Senator Obama. Just say it...you know secretly you've wanted to.... Yes WE can!

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Who I Am

A 40-something professor of contemporary American literature and Asian American literature interested in issues of social justice and specifically how to create spaces to talk comfortably (and sometimes uncomfortably) about race.